Alex couldn't sleep. A lot had happened today, between her fight with Zoe, exorcising the ghost of Heather Cole, and encountering Professor Richter again. But that wasn't what was keeping her awake, eating at the edge of her mind whenever she closed her eyes. No, it was Lucas.

With everything that had been going on, she still hadn't had a chance to go see him. At least, that's what she told herself. Deep down, she knew she could have prioritized things differently. She could have gone to the park instead of going wraith hunting with Cynthia Saturday night, or even afterwards. She had certainly had time on Sunday, but had rationalized that it would be easier to just go during lunch at school the next day. The truth was that she was letting things get in the way because she was nervous to see him again. She lay in bed awake for well over an hour before deciding that it could not wait any longer.

She waited until a little after midnight to leave the house, just to make sure that her father and sister were both asleep and that neither would hear her slip out the front door. It was a long walk to Ellison Park, and she knew she wouldn't be getting much, if any sleep tonight. School the next day was definitely going to suck, but this was something she had to do.

She put on a heavy pea coat, a scarf, and an old pair of suede gloves to help stay warm. She also grabbed a flashlight from the bottom drawer in the kitchen, not wanting to rely solely on her phone for light..

It took almost an hour to get there on foot without running. When she arrived, she found that the flashlight was unnecessary. The gibbous moon hanging overhead provided adequate light to see by, and there were street lamps along the paved path. There didn't appear to be anyone else out. Under normal circumstances, she felt certain that it would look very peaceful. But then, it had also appeared serene on the afternoon of Halloween, before she had stumbled upon the wraith and Lucas's body.

As she walked down the path, a wispy figure appeared in the darkness before her. It appeared at first as some kind of ethereal mist, but coalesced into a mostly solid form as she approached.

Lucas did not look much different as a ghost. Paler, perhaps, and a bit hazy, but other than that, he appeared much the same as he had before.

"Hey, Alex," he said, smiling. He looked so pleased to see her, and it just made her stomach tighten with guilt. Why hadn't she come sooner?

"Hi Lucas," she whispered softly. She noticed that he was not dressed in the clothes he had died in, his bardic Halloween costume. Instead, he wore baggy jeans and a Legend of Zelda T-shirt. It occurred to her that perhaps a ghost's appearance was based on its own self-perception, considering the twisted shapes that wraiths took.

"I'm really sorry I didn't come sooner. Spooky Jay told me you were here, I just..."
"It's okay. I'm just glad you're here now." He reached out a hand towards her, and without thinking, she lifted her own hand to take it. She might have thought that, as a ghost, they would just pass through one another, but she was surprised to discover she could feel it. It wasn't solid, exactly, but there was a sort of tingling sensation on her skin, like painless electricity dancing down her fingers and into the palm of her hand.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated. "What happened to you... God, it must have been awful."

Lucas did his best to smile reassuringly at her, but there was just a hint of despair hidden in the darkness of his eyes. "It didn't hurt as much as you'd think. It was pretty sudden."

"So, you were already dead by the time I found you?" She tried not to sound too relieved by that. The thought that she could have saved him and had instead ran away in fear had been eating away at the back of her mind for the past week. Knowing there was nothing else she could have done at least helped assuage some of the guilt she had been feeling.

He squeezed her hand gently, sending a brief tingling thrill up to her wrist, then let go.

"Yeah, that... thing. The wraith? I think Spooky Jay said you called it the Glutton? It got me on my way to meet up with you. It actually took a while for me to even put together what had happened. I wanted to come find you, but I guess I can't leave the park. Spooky Jay says that happens a lot. A lot of ghosts are anchored to the places they died."

"And you can't move on until the psychopomp comes back," Alex added. She could destroy wraiths, but it seemed she was powerless to help Lucas.

"It's not so bad," he said. "I mean, it's kind of boring, and kind of lonely, but at least that thing is gone."

"I'll come and visit you from now on," Alex promised. "Until we figure out what's going on and find a way to help you, I'll try to come every school day."

His sad smile brightened. "I'd like that."

"I think we're making progress," she told him. "I think the disappearance of Grim is related to all these wraiths that have been popping up, and we found some weird circles with symbols in them that we think are related."

"Weird symbols, huh?" Lucas repeated. "There's one here, too."

It shouldn't have been a surprise, really. If Cynthia was right about the symbols being part of some crazy death magic that had corrupted John Ferguson's spirit, it was likely something similar had happened to create the wraith here. "Show me."

Lucas complied, and led her through the trees and bushes to a fairly secluded part of the park, well out of sight of the paved path or entrance. There was a place between several bushes, a patch of ground that you could only see if you were right on top of it. The circled had been etched into the dirt there.

"How did you find this?" Alex asked.

Lucas gave a half-hearted shrug. "I've been stuck here over a week. I don't even need to sleep now, so I haven't had much to do but wander around. Stumbled across this just yesterday, actually."

Alex rubbed the circle out, grinding the dirt with the heel of her shoe. She glanced up then to see Lucas staring off into the distance.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Sorry. It's just... you ever get this uneasy feeling, like you're not alone?" He seemed to shift his weight from one foot to another. A ghost with a nervous twitch? "I mean, I know I'm not alone because you're here, but it feels like there's someone—or something—else out there."

Alex placed a hand on his shoulder, and felt the same strange tingling sensation. "It's okay. The Glutton is gone now. There's nothing to..." she trailed off as she followed his gaze towards the paved path. A cold chill ran through her as she saw what he was looking at.

There was someone approaching them.

For a moment, she considered running away and manifesting her eidolon to cover her escape, as she had done back in the church. But then a voice called out, one that she recognized.

"It's awfully late for a stroll in the park," he said, flicking on a flashlight. The light momentarily blinded her, and she flashed back to the officer at the church. For a moment, she felt a sensation of rushing power, as if her eidolon were trying to manifest itself in response to a threat, but she fought to keep it under control.

"I recognize you. You're that girl I talked to on Wednesday. Alex, was it?"

It was Detective Prescott. What was he doing here? Was this really a coincidence?

"I...needed to sort some things out," she said, lamely.

He turned the flashlight back off. "You know it's well past curfew," he said, sternly.

"I know, I'm sorry," Alex replied, pleadingly. "I know I shouldn't be out here, I just..." Lucas looked back and forth between her and the detective, but remained silent, likely not wanting to distract her while she dealt with the unexpected intrusion.

The older man glanced down at the spot on the ground where the arcane circle had been drawn. "Ah, I see," he said. "Let me guess, you heard all those rumors about how this might be occult-related."

She nodded her head. "There have been other circles like this," she said. "They keep turning up near where people have died." She was willing to bet that the detective knew of more than the ones she had seen. Perhaps Dominique Hayes' and Travis Burton's bodies had also had similar symbols drawn somewhere nearby.

"We've looked into it," he assured her. "There's absolutely no indication that they are related to any of those deaths, and there's no proof they weren't drawn after the fact. We believe it's just some prankster, trying to scare people." There was something in his tone that told Alex he didn't believe his own story.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked, hoping that she had bought enough sympathy in their last encounter to get her off the hook.

He sighed, and it was a drawn-out, exaggerated sound. He shook his head, as if chiding himself for being too soft on her, and said "I suppose I can overlook this, just this once. You've been through enough this past week, heaven knows."

"You won't tell my dad?"

Detective Prescott scowled. "Listen, Alex. You seem like a good kid, and I know you're in a tough place right now. I'd hate to see things get harder for you, but you have to exercise better judgment. I want you to forget about all this, and get on with your life. Do you understand?" Alex nodded emphatically. "Alright, if you promise me you won't pull another stunt like this, I won't say anything. Let's get you home, okay?"

Alex followed the detective back towards the parking lot, looking back over her shoulder at Lucas. He smiled and waved goodbye. She held up a hand in a sort of pseudo-wave, just casual enough not to draw attention from the old detective. Lucas then held his hand up to his face, with thumb and little finger extended to emulate the shape of a phone, while mouthing the words "call me." Alex couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Something funny?" Detective Prescott asked.

Alex shook her head. "I guess it just hit me how ridiculous all of this is," she said. It wasn't entirely untrue.